It's
a tale of power, deceit, murder of innocents, illegal arms smuggling,
and religious intolerance. In other words, it's business as usual for
Blackwater's Erik Prince. When
you have a billionaire father who co-founded the Family Research Council,
you've just got to prove your worth by killing as many infidels as
possible. But first you become: a volunteerfirefighter, a pilot (at 17), a White House Intern (under George H.W. Bush), a Navy SEAL, a campaigner for Pat BuchananBEFORE
you inherit over a billion dollars and start a "man's man" mercenary
army. (BTW: My own name, VOJIR, has a similar meaning in Czech, only my
dad preferred to interpret it as "soldier of fortune.")

Last
Monday, Erik Prince was named in two sworn affidavits as the enabler of
Iraqi civilian deaths and the chief motivator for several murders of
Blackwater employees.

A
former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a
security operative for the company have made a series of explosive
allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in
Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may
have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were
cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The
former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian
crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the
globe."

In
their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling
weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit
by transporting "illegal" or "unlawful" weapons into the country on
Prince's private planes.

In
one of the statements, John Doe 2, who worked for Blackwater for four
years, alleged that Mr Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader
tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe"
and that his companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of
Iraqi life".

Also in the Times article:

Several
knowledgeable friends, who did not wish to be identified discussing
private conversations, say Prince talked about his reverence for the
continuity of the Catholic Church, his desire to go to mass every
morning and his appreciation of confession.

"To
that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who
shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men
to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men
used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who
fought the Crusades."

Another article described Erik Prince succinctly:

"Theocon"... with a Christian-supremacist agenda."

In the past, Prince has hired some heavy-duty defense lawyers, including former independent counsel Ken Starr.When he's not running a school for Christian Commandos, Prince's extra-curricular activities include:

Philanthropy: over $1.3 million to Family Research Council and Focus on the Family and undisclosed sums to the Alliance Defense Fund, an evangelical legal group founded (and staffed by) Pat Robertson.

Community Service:on the board of Christian Freedom International, a non-profit group with a mission of helping "Christians who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ."

Politics: A major player among donors to the Republican Party.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich:

"Blackwater
is a law unto itself, both internationally and domestically. The
question is why they operated with impunity. In addition to Blackwater,
we should be questioning their patrons in the previous administration
who funded and employed this organization. Blackwater wouldn't exist
without federal patronage; these allegations should be thoroughly
investigated," Kucinich said.

Could that mean Dick you-know-who?Heavens!

Blackwater
recently changed its name and logo to Xe. It's trying to distance
itself from its image, but it still is the largest of the U.S. State Department's
three private security contractors. At least 90 percent of the
company's revenue comes from government contracts, of which two-thirds
are no-bid contracts.

And Dick Cheney had a veritable love affair with companies and no bid contracts.

Rev. Dan Vojir is has been writing/blogging on religion and politics for the better part of ten years. A former radio talk show host (Strictly Books €" Talk America Radio Network) and book publisher, Dan has connected with some of the most (more...)